Strange meeting with this beetle this afternoon. I am not very familiar with the insects but this one is very interesting.
Some informations about it:Dorcus parallelipipedus of the Lucanidae family is 16 to 30 mm long and lives in dead trees sapwood and half decayed stumps. Lesser Stag Beetles are very common and can be seen everywhere from April to August.
(www.aaff.org)

You can see a nice picture of the face of this Stag beetle, made by Mariusz Wawrzyniak: here

Hi Catherine. Great shot of the Stag beetle. such fantastic beetles. they look so strong. you have captured a good shot with a nice top POV. good colour and detail. very well done TFS. good notes too.
Nick..

Hello Catherine!
Very beautiful picture of Dorcus parallelepipedus! Nice sharpness, details, composition and colouration. I like also natural pose of the beetle (even if it is rather strange to observe this woodland species in grassland area).
Very nice work!
TFS and best withes,
Radomir